K-MAX Drone Helicopters To Do Autonomous Search & Rescue

The K-MAX drone helicopters, made by Lockheed Martin (LMT) has finished tests for autonomous search and rescue operations. Previously used for carrying cargo for the military, it can now be used to save people's lives as well.

The test was carried out at the end of March but results were out only recently. The test was carried out using an unmanned ground vehicle simulating an injured person. Once the casualty is safely strapped to the seat, the helicopter can air-lift the person and head to safety at almost 100 mph.

In a statement, Jay McConville, the Director of Business Development for the Lockheed Martin division responsible for the K-MAX project said, "This application of the unmanned K-MAX enables day or night transport of wounded personnel to safety without endangering additional lives."

"Since the K-MAX returned from a nearly three-year deployment with the U.S. Marine Corps, we've seen benefits of and extended our open system design incorporating the UCS Architecture, which allows rapid integration of new applications across industry to increase the safety of operations, such as casualty evacuation, where lives are at stake."

The K-MAX drone helicopter is built by Lockheed with Kaman Aerospace and Neya Systems. Unmanned mobility, which looked light years ahead sometime back, is here.